Frost Child
by Melantha Frost
Summary: We all know the expression, 'Jack Frost.' What you don't know is that Jack Frost is a girl. You don't know she's a 423 year old trapped in a twelve year old's body. You don't know she's been alone and invisible for 423 years.
1. Meeting

In the thousands of decades the Guardians had been alive, there had never been a snowstorm as big as the one in 1581. Many spectres were scared, as the worldwide blizzard was not of Mother Nature's making. People were scared because it was the end of the world. If anybody was willing to trudge through the month-long storm, and somehow make it to the eye above Asia, they would see a strange sight.

They would've seen a twelve year old girl shivering. That in itself wasn't strange. What was strange was the fact that she was wearing a thin, ragged, frosted silver dress. She was bare-footed, and had a ghostly look. The girl had blue eyes and deathly pale skin. Her hair was pure white, as bright as the snow. If a mortal had dared come closer, they would have been a frozen statue. One might say that she was shivering in fear. For what was anyone's guess.

In the first few years she was 'alive,' many uncontrollable blizzards whistled through the world, but none as long or cold as the storm created when the frost child was born. Neither Mother Nature or her children were able to find out the reason for the inexplainable disasters that killed many beings, both mortal and spirit. Not even the Man in the Moon knew.

Around the 1800s, the snowstorms let up. Nobody knew why, but they didn't question it. They were quite relieved in the respite from the constant cold.

The frost child had only one memory. She didn't even know if it could be called a memory, all she knew was that her name was Jacqueline Frost. She was always alone, as the mortals could never see her, despite the knew season she ushered in. Because of this, she stayed away from immortals. Jackie didn't know or trust them.

The only companion she had was a small white fox. The fox used to be a russet red, but was present at Jackie's birth, along with a few other animals. The bitter cold made him a fluffy white, intelligent, immortal animal. Jackie named him Solstice, for his presence at the birth of winter. Solstice was the first winter animal.

Other animals at her birth were made into winter animals too, although they were not immortal, and did not share a special bond with Jackie.

The year of 2000 was when she slipped. She broke her only rule. Never let another spirit see the cause of pain and death.

Sandy had been doing his rounds in Michigan when he saw a young girl sitting on a roof. What was strange was that it was winter, and there she sat, thin dress and all. The snow and winds blew around her, surrounding her in a white cloud, but never touching the girl itself. A seemingly young arctic fox sat on her shoulder.

The golden man had heard of a young frost child. Everybody had, the mortals had made it up into the expression of 'Jack Frost.' Of course, nobody had seen her-clearly. At first glance, she seemed like a part of the snow; she seemed like a boy, for her dress was a casual one.

Jackie had sensed somebody nearby, but she had passed it off as an unbelieving mortal. Solstice had heard something suspicious, but he had passed it off as a breeze, as it smelled like sand. Nobody can be made of sand- right?

Both winter spirits were wrong. As Jackie reached out to touch the bright golden tendrils against the starry night sky, another hand touched hers. She jerked back with a startled cry. The fox jumped to the ground, growling at the hand's owner. Sandy quickly took his hand back, putting both up in surrender.

Many sand pictures appeared above the dreamweaver's head. A snowflake, a question mark, then an arrow pointing at Jackie. The girl frowned, trying to think of a way to answer the strange man. She never had had the need to speak before, and had long forgotten how. Jackie tried to show the Sandman that she couldn't talk. She pointed to herself, then mimed talking, then made a big X with her arms.

Sandy's eyes widened. He was the only mute spirit in the world, it was nice to know he wasn't alone anymore. A sand image of what a voice box would look like appeared, then a big X crossed over it, then a question mark. Solstice barked an affirmative and was rewarded by a scratch behind the ear from Jackie.

They sat together on the frozen roof. Jackie uneasily wondered if Sandy was comfortable. A quick glance to her right quelled her fears when she saw him staring up at the moon in awe and reverence. She copied him: she knew from eavesdropping on other spirits, that there was a man living on the moon. Her content was reflected by the gentle flurry of snow that rained from the heavens.

The other was startled out of his reverie when a snowflake landed in his left eye. He jerked back and covered the smarting eye with a hand, an exclamation mark appearing above his head before melting with the snow. Then he whipped around to look at the now sleeping child beside him. He was shocked; he had, indeed, found the fabled 'mischievous' Jack Frost. He was not a he at all; she was not mischievous at all either. She was just a lost, innocent child, unsure of her purpose. A glance at her companion revealed that he, too, had fallen asleep. He idly wondered what the two spirits' names were, and if he could spare some time to sleep. The sleepy man shrugged, fell back, and napped on the frozen roof.

When he woke up, Sandy was unsurprised that the frozen child had left. He sat up, and got hit with a snowball. The fox ran around the fallen man and growled playfully. The dreamweaver nearly joined the fun, but wanted to know their names. The animal seemed to know what he wanted, and drew a fox and a girl in the snow. He wrote names next to their respective owners.

Solstice and Jacqueline Frost.

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A/N: Am I the only one who gets a bunch of ideas for new stories, but find it hard to update existing ones? Yes, no, maybe so?

Anyways, I don't know if I should make this into a story... If you think I should, review! And feel free to request some kind of plot, I'll pick the one that's the easiest (and most fun) to do.


	2. Secrets

A/N: You guys are sooo lucky... Amazing that I can even think of a happy-ish chapter with the family problems... So anyways, enjoy.

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Eleven snowball fights and millions of snowballs later, Jackie emerged as the victor-again. The battlefield looked like a snow bomb exploded. Deep holes and tall forts littered the area, and the trees were completely frosted over.

Solstice was fast asleep on the sidelines, away from the crossfire. Originally he had been watching and encouraging his friend win. Sometimes he had jumped in, sneaking around and barking at Sandy, making him turn around, then Jackie would hit him in the back with a snowball.

Jackie herself was up and ready, still filled with energy to beat the Sandman. She was currently leaping around the clearing with a deer-like grace, sometimes scaling trees and frosting the branches while waiting for the other competitor to recharge. Sandy had settled down on a unfrosted branch, swinging his legs about. The snow girl plopped down beside him, a questioning look on her face: Do you wanna keep going?

He shook his head and pointed up at the sky. There was more to the world than fun and games, and he had his job to do, lest the children stopped believing. But he had one more question to ask. A calendar appeared above his head, then an arrow pointing at her. Jackie thought for a minute, then held up her fingers. A four, then a two, then three.

Sandy was surprised. How did she manage to survive and rein in her powers by herself? How did she stay hidden from the other spirits for 423 years? All this he wondered, plus many more. He shook his head to rid these thoughts, resolving to find out more about her later. Sandy turned to leave her, waving a good-bye, but a cold hand clutched his shoulder, holding him back.

When he turned, he almost asked why, but stopped short when he saw the pain and fear. The loneliness and plea. The hatred and mistrust. The latter he suspected to be directed at all spirits besides himself.

Internally, he promised to come back soon, and to never tell another soul about her. She seemed to understand, but held out her pinky finger. Sandy sat there with a stupid look on his face, and belatedly wondered what she was asking of him.

A cold breeze blew between the odd pair, a pale girl in a thin white dress and a short, spiky-haired man wearing a robe of golden sand. The wind served as a metaphorical slap to the golden man. He jerked, remembering this was a custom, a symbol of making a promise. He wrapped his own pinky around hers. She smiled and lightly pushed Sandy away, in a silent reminder of his duties. Jackie saw an aurora spreading through the skies, but didn't deem it important enough to mention.

Golden specks gathered under Sanderson and lifted him up in the air, tendrils of sand snaking their way to any sleeping kids. He had seen the Aurora Borealis, and made his way to North's home, not looking forward to the questions directed to his being late. The winter sprite silently followed, hiding in shadows and alcoves when needed. She even froze her way across the oceans, the ice bridge melting behind her as she went. Even the wind was quiet, recognizing her need for stealth. Sandy didn't notice once about the spy behind him.

Jackie wanted to see Santa's home on the inside. Every other time there was a yeti on guard, and she didn't want to be discovered. It would be easy for her to sneak in right behind Sandy, after all, she was quiet and small, and nobody ever noticed her.

In the biting cold of the North Pole, she almost fell back against the snow. She loved the place, and would've made an ice palace for her and any needy winter animal, but that would mean risking discovery. Shaking her head, she continued the journey to Santoff Claussen.

Sandy had reached the ridiculously large oak doors. Jackie hid and surreptitiously looked around for any signs of large furry monsters. There were none on guard. She smiled in triumph as Sandy opened the majestic doors. She shadowed Sandy, crouching down and stepping right behind him, making sure she was out of the way before the doors shut in her 'tail.' She was quite glad she had assigned her fox to spread winter to Old World countries, or else they would have been caught.

The lonely girl floated up to the rafters, her slight form allowing her to fit into the smallest of coves. She sat back and almost snorted when she observed Sandy float up to the rafters, seemingly asleep, to a bigger space not far from her own. The dreamweaver glanced at her, to the chagrin of the sneak. He rolled his eyes and fell asleep.

Giving a mental sigh of relief and exasperation, Jackie watched for Santa Claus. She had never seen the man, so she didn't know he preferred North. Instead of the big Russian, however, the Easter Bunny hopped in, complaining about his frostbitten feet. The Cossack came in and laughed at his friend's predicament, as his way of greeting. Jackie could only stare longingly at the family. Before, she had fancied a family for herself, but had long since given up on it ever happening.

Sandy had been observing Jackie's reactions from under his eyelashes, and was quite surprised at the many emotions running rampant in her eyes. He knew she had never seen them before, but what was the longing for? To meet them? No, he didn't think so.

So what was bothering her? There was a strange expression on her face now, and frozen hailstones wer- oh.

Jackie turned her head towards wall, to conceal her tears. She had the forethought to catch the tears. Sandy got up to comfort her, but the sprite had frozen, an animalistic look in her eyes-fragile, yet defensive. The crying spirit tried to melt into shadows, but she wasn't a shadower like her maybe-friend Umbra.

Umbra was a spirited girl, with a big attitude. If you made her mad, you're going to get your butt handed to you, the female was that good a prankster. She was a pretty pale, much like Frost's, and her hair was jet black. Her dark eyes usually conveyed the madwoman that she really was. She was normally found at night, scaring kids back home.

Jackie really didn't know if Umbra knew of her presence, sometimes she hinted of it, but there was never a direct encounter.

Her thoughts snapped back to the situation at hand, and cowered away from the reaching hand that belonged to Sandy. This was her undoing, as she was still crying hailstones, and one of them fell down with a resounding _clunk_ on Tooth's head.

Silence ensued, as North had been arguing with Bunny over which holiday was better. The three wide-eyed Guardians glance at each other and slowly, every so slowly, looked up to see a frozen Sandman with his hand outstretched towards a disfigured shadow.

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A/N: For more on Umbra, read Deepest Dark. And I'm mainly working on this and Mommy, just letting you guys know...


	3. Meetings and Escapes

The shadow seemed to cower into the alcove in which it was situated in. No, it wasn't an it. Tooth flew closer and found it was a girl. A pale, snow-haired girl wearing a thin white dress, which was strange, because it was so cold despite the many fires in the workshop. The girl had a sense of fragility about her, and fright and mistrust in her eyes.

How she got there, nobody but Sandy and the girl herself knew. "Um, hello there. Who are you and how did you get here?"

The girl stared at her with those haunted eyes, with a hint of wist. She just scuffled her feet, and looked down. Sandy forgot how volatile the girl was in her state, and stumbled as she scrambled away from him. She screamed, which was disturbing for them all, as it was as silent as can be. Tooth gasped, and glanced at Sandy and got a confirmation to her suspicion.

The girl was mute.

A sand image of the girl came up, along with a snowflake. Then the words 'Jacqueline Frost.' The three clueless spirits figured the girl's name was Jacqueline Frost. North, ever the intuitive one, was thinking of the snowflake. Then his mind fast-forwarded to the myth, Jack Frost. Then he looked at the girl with a white dress. White because of the frost patterns adorning the fabric!

Bunny had apparently come up with the same thought, "So, let me get this straight. The ankle-biter is mute. And the girl is a spirit. What's more, she is the elusive 'Jack Frost?'" He looked at her with respect and annoyance. "Just how long has she been by herself? And how did she keep herself hidden through four decades?"

By now, Jackie had gathered her wits and was staring at the Sandman with something akin to betrayal. More icy tears gathered in her eyes. The message was blatantly clear: You promised. He looked away, painfully aware of his mistake. So he did the one thing he could to make it right. He distracted the others by throwing a ball of dreamsand at a picture frame. The ball reflected off of the glass and bounced around, making the others duck and try to avoid it.

By the time the projectile fizzled out, Jackie was gone. North glared at the dreamer, why would he do that? Sandy was downcast, there goes another few decades of loneliness for Jackie. He wouldn't blame her if she did spend all that time alone.

When North turned to ask Bunny to track down the child, he found him frozen and staring at an arctic fox. The fox had a beautiful snowy pelt, and looked young, but there was aura about it, the kind that you would normally see around an immortal. North immediately knew why Bunny looked petrified. The fox was standing, the paws spread out, and the fur on end. It's muzzle was drawn back in a gruesome snarl.

It looked like he was mad. At all of them. Tooth was glancing at Sandy suspiciously. If Jackie was the winter spirit (there were no others), she must've somehow created winter animals, and Sandy seemed to know the fox already, by the way he was cringing.

The fox growled, a soft but deadly sound, and a wave of winter magic spread over the already cold Pole. He left the frozen Guardians to melt.

Sniffing the air, a breeze of sharp, cold smell in a forest met his nose. He ran alongside the wind, at some times riding on the wind, to get to his best friend. Her only friend. Her only constant companion, as even the beach-sand-short-man had proved.

Solstice remembered when he had observed the coming of the frost-child. A great-whipping-storm of white-flakes had spread worldwide, but it had originated nearby the den he had lived in. He was only a year-old at the time, and he had bright orange fur with patches of grey fuzz down his muzzle and tail. The curious animal had crept out of the hollow under the tree despite the cold.

The winds had almost pushed him back in, as if protecting something, or someone. He had seen a small figure huddled up not far from his home. Solstice had pushed through the strengthening gales, and made it to the trembling girl. He had sat beside her.

That's when it happened. He had felt a breeze: so cold, yet so warm and inviting. His fur changed into a warm, white coat, and he felt more at ease with the cold-dust falling from the sky. Solstice felt a... A... Connection with the crying girl beside him. He didn't bite when she reached her hand to to scratch right behind his ears.

Solstice reached the origin of the cold-forest-smell. His soul-partner was up on a tall tree, sitting in a fork. Now how was he going to get to the girl?

The wind whistled through his fur, but he ignored it. He could always climb...? But wait, no, the bark is too frost-slippery, his claws wouldn't be able to grip the trunk. He couldn't jump from branch-to-branch, there were too few, too far.

The wind rose, practically screaming at him. The fox glared at the breeze as if it was a real spirit, wondering wh—oh. If he were human, he would've facepalmed himself. Being the arctic fox he was, he settled on biting his tail.

The air current picked up the fox with a throbbing tail, carrying him to the highest, thinnest branch. There, sitting on the stick, was Jackie. The girl had frozen tears on her face. She had never cried before, it was a strange feeling. There was immense sadness, a bittersweet feeling that reminds us of the happy things that were long ago crushed. Jackie had been stronger than this, but then again, she had never felt the sting of betrayal. If she hadn't started sobbing, the weight on her chest would have exploded outwards, creating the second-biggest blizzard in history.

Instead, she had broken down. The sobs warranted just a light flurry, with the gray of her emotions painted across the sky. Her sadness radiated from her being, so tangible. Solstice couldn't help but howl to the cloud-covered silver-sun as salt-drops trailed down his snout.

Back at the North Pole, the Guardians had managed to break out of the ice cubes. Over the roaring winds outside, they heard a peculiar sound. It sounded like broken sobs and a high keening wail.

North, Tooth, and Bunny looked to Sandy, he was the only one who knew all about this 'Jack Frost,' after all. The object of speculation sighed and told them her story. He had nothing else to lose, he had already broken his promise to Jackie anyway.

'Jack Frost is not Jack Frost. Jack Frost if Jacqueline Frost, but she prefers Jackie. She was born in the year of 1581, during that worldwide blizzard. She is the first and only spirit of winter. When she was born, a few special fauna were changed to help them survive winter. A swift fox was among them, his orange fur turning to white. The fox, named Solstice, became her only trustworthy friend.' At the word trustworthy, Sandy turned away, holding back tears.

'Through the next two decades, the many smaller blizzards were caused by her. They were the result of her emotional breakdowns and her inability to control her powers. That was why not even Mother Nature was able to stop them, as Jackie is not her child. Jackie managed to control her magic and like the loneliness. Ever since then, for 423 years, she stayed way from other spirits. Until I came and found her on a roof in Michigan. I was just doing my rounds, and she didn't know who I was. We had a snowball war,' at this, Bunny snorted, 'which she won, with the help of Solstice.

Then you turned on the Guardian signal, and when I turned to leave, she asked me to promise not to tell anybody about her. I did. And she followed, just to see you guys, but she didn't want to be discovered. You know the rest.' By this time, Samdy was worn out. He had had to write all of that out with his dreamsand! He fell back onto the ground and promptly fell asleep.

The other Guardians felt like failures. They left her alone for decades, she was still just a child. Bunny shrugged, "What's done is done, we can't change the past. We better put Sandy to bed." Without further ado, he picked up the surprisingly light dreamer and tucked him into a bed in one of the guest rooms.

North looked for something to do, and walked off, drinking eggnog as he went.

The ever active Tooth was, for once, kneeling on her knees, trying not to listen to the ongoing cries and howls pounding against the windows.

Jackie had finally stopped crying. She curled up in the fork in the tree and fell asleep with Solstice resting beside her stomach.

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A/N: Don't be surprised about the sad parts... Anything I post later on will probably be tragedy too.


	4. Help

A/N: Let me just say, I do not own any of the characters in this story except for mute, female Frost

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The first thing she noticed when she woke up was the tickling feeling of Solstice snuffling her hair. She grumbled silently and got up, frost spreading across the branch under her. Her friend barked, as a warning that the Guardians were searching for her, and were close by. Jackie coughed into her sleeve to muffle the harsh sound.

The fox whined, eager to get back to their home. The girl finally got up, coughing and wheezing, and rode the south wind to Antarctica. The trip would take awhile, maybe a few hours. A few hours of long, hard thinking.

Apparently, she was sick. Solstice sure thought so, he fussed like a mother hen. She felt like a trash bag, and she was cold. If she felt cold, that's was a very, very bad thing.

Jackie and Solstice were currently riding the south wind over the Atlantic Ocean. The fox nudged her back north, but she resisted and glared, as if saying, 'I'm fine!'  
He snorted and resorted to baring his sharp teeth. When she ignored him, Sol waved his thick furry tail under her nose, causing her to sneeze and fall off of South into the cold water. He knew she could swim, and waited for her to resurface.

Jackie thrashed, she remembered this same liquid dark. Yes, she could swim, but had long forgotten how, as the water usually froze under her. Now that she was sick, her magic wouldn't work. She tried to scream, she tried to paddle her way up to fresh-air. Her body worked against her, and she eventually began sinking. Blackness ate up the edge of her vision.

Sol was getting worried. Maybe Jackie was playing a trick. Yeah, maybe she's playing a trick. But his instincts told him otherwise, she can't play a trick, she's sick! Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. The water under South bubbled like there was a disturbance underwater. No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! His ice powers acted up to his emotions and grabbed hold of his frost child. She was placed back on South's back, but she wasn't breathing.

He whined, pushing his paw on her chest. Nothing happened. A howl ripped itself out of his throat, she's gone, gone, GONE!

A grey hand reached out to touch his fur, he could feel it. Sol whipped around to snap at the stranger. The man jerked his hand back and smirked. "Why, fancy meeting you here, Solstice. In the middle of the ocean, with a near-drowned, sick winter spirit. I could help her." He was a tall, grey skinned man with wind-swept black hair.

The fox growled again. Nobody was allowed to touch his Jackie except him! Unfortunately, he didn't notice the fearling behind him until it was too late. He fell asleep to a dream of nightmares. Pitch smiled maliciously. "Poor Jackie. Sick, alone, who's going to help her? I could, if you would just have le-"

He was caught by surprise when a boomerang hit upside the head. The Nightmare King fell into the waters below. The fearling retreated, dropping the sleeping fox and Jackie. Tooth flew off of North's sleigh and caught them both before they followed Pitch into the ocean.

She set them down on North's sleigh and they set off for the North Pole. No matter how bumpy the ride got, neither Jackie nor Solstice woke up. They were all worried, especially for Jackie, for she still had that nasty fever. Bunnymund had already gotten the water out of her lungs, and she was breathing again, but the fever could harm her health permanently (not her immortality, oh no, she couldn't die).

When they got to the Pole, the yetis rushed the sick spirit to the infirmary. Solstice had already awoken, and obediently followed the yetis to make sure his friend was fine. He watched them set her down on the cloud-fluff-box. He knew he wouldn't be able to climb up the tall structure, not without cold-breeze, so the fox padded out of the white room to watch the four other twolegs argue amongst themselves.

The big twoleg den was crowded with more shaggy creatures like the one he had followed. There were flying leaves with bright colors, and stacks of colored playthings. The walls were red, and all he could smell was a strange milk-scent and minty herbs. With all the thick-furs stumbling around, Sol was surprised the jolly no-claw who lived here could navigate his way through.

The bright-fairy-twoleg and her children were buzzing around the light-sphere, along with the jolly man, the yellow sand-man, and giant bunny.

"So, you," the bunny nodded at sand-man, "find Sheila, and apparently she didn't want anybody to know about her. So you tried to put us to sleep, thus letting her escape. And then Pitch decided to attack! How is the bloody Boogeyman back anyway? He wasn't supposed to come back for another decade. And the show-pony got sick. What idiot just goes off by herself when we could've helped her?" The unnaturally tall 'kangaroo' was obviously mad at Jackie.

Sol growled, reminding them he was still there, and nobody was going to insult his frost child like that! His hackles rose, and he circled around the bunny, lips pulled back in a snarl. The three fox-lengths tall tai-chi master backed away, paws up. Good. He submits. But he's not getting off that easily.

The fox smirked and leapt, landing square on the rabbit's back. Solstice clawed at his ears and nose, the most sensitive parts of a kangaroo. He could vaguely hear the mini bright-birds chirping in alarm, and the big man's booming voice. The last thing he could remember was a flash of a golden sandball.

Bunnymund sighed as the fox's sharp claws let go of his ears. Tooth was giggling, thinking back to the day they had first driven off Pitch. A bloodhound had done the same thing to him, and let go of him in the exact same way. But this time, Sandy's aim had improved, putting only Solstice to sleep. Golden pictures of Jackie, Sol, and snow spun around his head, and he snuggled tighter into his (still throbbing) fluffy tail.

North had left the room so he wouldn't get caught in any possible crossfire, and to get some eggnog. Tooth was done giggling and was giving orders to her minifairies. Bunny was nursing his clawed ears. Sandy was mentally praising himself on his aim. Nobody noticed the shadow figure that strolled leisurely into the globe room, down the hall (passing the eggnog-drunken North), and into the hospital wing.

A/N: I tried. In my defense, I have a project going in almost every single one of my classes (7th grade) and my lazy excuses for advanced classmates decided to make me do all the work. Yippee.


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